


without you I feel broke (like I'm half of a whole)

by orangeORmango



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 13:55:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16662215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orangeORmango/pseuds/orangeORmango
Summary: Cheryl and Toni in 9/11 plane crash.





	without you I feel broke (like I'm half of a whole)

**Author's Note:**

> Title from 'Sad Song' by We The Kings.

I’m going to die, and no one is left to care, I thought, covering my ears with my hands. Gonna die, gonna die. Will they pull my body out of the ashes and rubble, and announce it on the news, or will my bloodied corpse be too mangled and broken for them to know who I am? The plane. Going down, going down. The smoke in the air, pouring out of the building. One plane gone, another heading straight into the mouth of Death, like some perverse game for feeding a toddler. In goes the airplane, crunch crunch goes the bodies. Screams lace the air along with the fumes from the wreck. Paper, floating down with the breeze.  
The crash. One tower down, one to go. The sound is making me feel strange, nothing seems real, not anymore. I’m floating above my body, and everything is still and quiet, like when you dive into a pool and suddenly the world above is so, so distant. Distorted voices, then like a swimmer coming up for air I’m back in my body. I’m upside down, and Pain is coming, just a few minutes away. She’s taking her sweet time, I can almost see her strolling slowly, letting me just be stuck and tremble and wait. When Pain finally visits me, she hits hard, like a huge wave that knocks me over. I’m covered in plaster dust and ash, like a body cast. I’ll probably need one anyway.  
For a few seconds, everything is still. Too still. It leaves too much for the imagination. It’s making a sharp, long whiny noise, then it feels like everything is exploding again. Screams again, and moans of pain and there’s even one shattered piece of hysterical laughter, then sobs that twist everything around again. I’m picking myself off the floor, and all the blood rushes from my head. I’m bleeding, and it’s everywhere, there’s so much I’m sure not all of it’s mine.  
“Hello?” I cough out, staggering and clutching onto a twisted piece of metal from the wreck. I pull back quickly, the hot steel is sharp and now I’m leaving a trail of blood. Great. Just what I needed.  
“Help…” I hear a strangled mewl-like voice from a few feet away. Everything is twisted and upside down, sideways, and I can’t really see through the dust and rubble. Nothing is going to be the same, I think, tears making a clear trail through the white coat on my bruised face. I move slowly, picking my way across broken luggage and what I think is a body, crimson making a large pool around it. I peer around a torn chair and I see a young girl, probably about fifteen or sixteen. My age. Just another little kid, too young to deal with the true horrors within the world, but instead, by some invisible force we insubstantial humans have no control over, we were thrust here, in this shattered universe, and we have to struggle to pick up the pieces.  
“Can you name your injuries?” I ask, skipping past the now pointless formalities and focusing on the important things. I can see the pretty girl open her mouth but before she can say anything, the whole plane shifts when the wall beneath it crumbles. We drop for a few feet before halting. Tears are streaming freely now, and I extend a hand.  
“My legs are pinned, underneath something heavy.” She pauses to cough up a little blood. “And my wrists feel all funny and numb. Other than that, just some fractures and cuts.” She sounds like she’s used to this, like getting hurt is just an everyday thing.  
“Cheryl Blossom,” I introduce myself, trying to move the pile of metal and plastic that’s holding her down.  
“Toni Topaz.” She whispers, and I help her up and we embrace for a few moments, holding on to each other and waiting for Death to collect us. But he doesn’t, at least he won’t for a while so we cling to Life like a spoiled child clutching their prized toy. But her grip is loosened and torn away as the plane shifts once more. The nose dips down and because of the way she was standing she goes sliding right down the aisle. Toni loses her balance and slams into someone, someone who I thought was dead. They let out a low moan then say, in a perfectly normal voice, “Hello? Can someone help me? I can’t seem to feel my arm, could I get some water?” Then their head falls back down onto the bloodied aisle and they lay still for good.  
Toni starts sobbing, curling up against the body until a heavy suitcase from the storage compartments slips out. I extend an arm vainly, crying out for her to move, anything. But I am still trapped by the rubble and I also don’t want to move into the more dangerous area. Because I’m selfish. And all of a sudden I’m thinking of all those people who jump in front of a bullet or something to save a stranger. The suitcase hits her head and she screams, my one friend screams and she’s dead. Just like that. Her eyes are blank, her hands are still. Gone. Never coming back, not ever. Do they ever feel burdened, those people, I’m thinking, who have been saved? Have they ever felt like they owe a debt to the decent person who saved them and they wish they had just died instead? I’m only thinking this to console myself.  
Suddenly a sharp pain in the back of my shoulder blade forces me to cry out and I collapse against the twisted remains of an economy seat. I’m not sure, but I think it’s a piece of shrapnel. Pain is here again, she’s come for me this time. Perhaps she’s hand in hand with Death, whistling and singing on the way to do her job. Blood. Death. Pain. This is my world now, my new reality.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry I keep on changing the title so much guys, I just feel really dissatisfied with it.


End file.
